Rebels ride four-game win streak into Christmas break
Rebels 5 Pats 4 (SO)
Ho ho ho.
The Red Deer Rebels are heading into the Christmas break in a jolly mood after securing a 5-4 WHL shootout win over the Regina Pats before 4,119 fans Saturday at the Peavey Mart Centrium.
Jhett Larson and Dwayne Jean Jr., with the clincher, beat netminder Kelton Pyne in the shootout while Rebels goaltender Chase Wutzke denied both Pats shooters in the breakaway competition.
Kalan Lind returned to the Rebels lineup after a two week absence due to an upper body injury and contributed right away, scoring once to provide his club with a 4-2 lead in the third period.
Lind has missed roughly half the season to date due to injury, but looked like he hadn’t missed a game upon his second return.
“It’s kind of been a rough start to the year. I’ve been in and out of the lineup the first few months,” he said. “I’m hoping to stay in now and be good.
“I felt like I was in good shape, kept up to the pace. All around I thought we had a really good game.”
The Rebels extended their victory streak to four games, winning each by a single goal.
“Every game it seems we’ve played this year have been close games,” said Lind. “We have the heart to stick with it right to the end. We’ve been in probably 10 overtime games this year but we stick with it and battle it out.”
The Pats, who defeated Lethbridge 5-2 the night before, opened the scoring 1:44 into the contest when Aaron Krestanowich’s shot from the point found its way through a crowd and past a screened Wutzke.
The home team responded nine minutes later as Carson Birnie intercepted an errant Pats pass in their slot and fed Frantisek Formanek, who in turn threw a perfect rink-wide pass to Kai Uchacz in the left circle. The Red Deer captain promptly potted his 20th goal of the season with a one-timer.
The Pats regained the lead on the power play shortly after, with Tanner Howe, all alone in front of the net, converting a centering pass from Sam Oremba.
“It didn’t look good early,” said Rebels head coach Derrick Walser. “We talked about how Regina played hard last night against Lethbridge and was going to come in and push.”
The Rebels pulled even at 15:05 of the second period when Frantisek Formanek scored from a scramble, then assumed the lead just under two minutes later as defenceman Jace Weir directed a shot at the net that changed direction and slipped past Pyne.
“After we killed the penalties off in the second period I thought we started getting into our game and playing with a lot of pace,” said Walser.
Lind extended the Rebels lead at 12:40 of the third period, capping a nifty three-way passing play. Uchacz passed up to Formanek, who then fed Lind on a two-on-one break and the Nashville Predators prospect made no mistake, beating Pyne to the top of the net.
The Pats weren’t done, however. A shot by Parker Berge caromed off the end boards and out front, where Howe poked it home after the puck had bounced off Wutzke’s pad and into the crease.
Then, with 3:29 remaining in regulation time, Borya Vallis scored with a slap shot from the point that Wutzke never saw.
“We just got on our heels, a lucky goal off the back boards hits Wutzke’s pad,” said Walser. “Again, we’ve been playing these tight games all year, I just thought we got on our heels.
“But it is what it is and we’ll take the two points.”
Wutzke made a great pad save in the scoreless overtime and then stoned the visitors in the skills competition, in the process running his win-loss record to 7-2-0-1.
Wutzke has been unbeatable in shootouts this season.
“Right now he’s in a zone and was very good in it again tonight,” said Walser. “Without him we probably don’t get a point. He was excellent.”
Added Lind: “He’s been unreal for us. He and Stoes (Rhett Stoesser) have been a great tandem for us this year and it’s been great to have him that great in shootouts.”
Lind suggested that teams are becoming accustomed to playing tight games against the Rebels.
“Teams are coming here knowing it’s going to be a grind,” he said. “We’re expecting a grind from a team every night and they’re expecting it from us as well.”
Notable: Wutzke finished with 25 saves while Pyne turned aside 36 shots . . . Red Deer improved to 17-12-0-3 with the win and moved up to fourth place in the Eastern Conference . . . The three stars: (1) Formanek, with a goal and two assists, (2) Uchacz, with the exact same contribution, and (3) Howe, who scored twice . . . The Rebels were zero-for-four on the power play, the Pats one-for-three . . . Red Deer is now tied with Brandon with 37 points for fourth in the Eastern Conference standings. The Rebels have the third-best points percentage in the conference . . . The Rebels return to action Dec. 27 against the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers.
(Photos by Taylor Lachance)
